It is well-established that even a very small woman places an extraordinary amount of stress upon the tip of a high heel shoe. This is so well known that women are requested to remove high heel shoes when walking on certain wood surfaces. Even flooring such as cushioned vinyl flooring may be damaged by a woman walking in high heel shoes on its surface. This stress is not just experienced upon the floor, but the high heel tip itself quickly exhibits the stress by becoming damaged and worn. In addition, such surfaces as concrete and the texture of asphalt increases the damage to the high heel tip due to the hardness and the irregularities in those surfaces. Further, the shape and small surface area of high heel tips enables them to be subjected to tremendous torque-type grinding forces. As a result, the high heel tip is usually the first portion of a high heel shoe to wear out. The owner is faced with having to replace the shoes which can be a very expensive decision or having a repair shop replace the high heel tips which is inconvenient and also relatively expensive.
Some pairs of high heel shoes are sold with an extra heel of high heel tips. These tips are usually accompanied with instructions which suggest that the owner must go to a shoe repair shop to have the tips replaced. There is a great temptation to save the cost of the shoe repair shop and to personally replace the high heel tips. The removal of the worn high heel tip is the first, and most difficult step. Removal of the tip entails finding some way to brace the shoe without causing damage to the surface of the shoe, then pulling off the worn high heel tip. Most high heels are a tapered volume, but most grasping tools, such as vices, provide planar parallel grasping surfaces. The sides of the high heel are typically leather covered and have a surface which matches the shoe, and is easily marred.
The leather covering the high heel is typically thin and amenable to tearing. Bracing the shoe is virtually impossible with the usual home tools, and risks tearing the heel material. Even with a c-clamp or vice to brace the shoe, the leather of the shoe must be protected from the metal of these tools. The requirement to use some cushioning material is counterproductive to bracing the shoe securely with the c-clamp or vice or other appropriate gripping tool.
The next problem is the relatively small size of the tip. Because it is small, it presents only a small amount of surface area with which the worn tip must be grasped and pulled out. Further, and depending upon the degree of wear, the portion of the already small area of the high heel tip remaining after damage and wear may be even smaller. In some cases, the high heel tip is worn away completely and the central pin which was used to secure the high heel tip may be all that remains.
Under the above circumstances, if the high heel tip can be grasped at all, achieving sufficient leverage to remove it requires exceptional effort, and especially where only the central pin remains. Typically the central pin is smoothly sided and straight. There is no surface against which force can be developed to pull out the pin. The effort becomes an exasperating task.
Even in shoe repair shops which have the appropriate type of clamp for removing such pins, the repairman must use a rather large gripping tool and extraordinary amount of effort in which to remove the remaining tip. Even with large, specialized, and expensive tools, the force required is substantial, even for one skilled in shoe repair. This task is even more difficult for the consumer. Presently, efficient means for removing high heel tips in order to replace them with new tips is not available to consumers.
What is therefore needed is an inexpensive tool which will enable a wide variety of sizes of high heel tips, and tip securing structures such as pins to be easily removed, but with minimal physical exertion. The tool should be inexpensive enough for consumer purchase, and for the consumer's realization of substantial savings in avoiding the necessity of having the tips removed at a shoe shop.